My Pictures After the Storm

This subversive French import riffs on the standard before-and-after construct with a crafty conceit and playful presen-tation. The opening spread is simple enough. On the left sits a grouping of seaside items, titled "MY PICTURES," each labeled in loopy cursive. On the right "MY PICTURES after the storm" display the same items, now altered: the pail is a puddle, the slide is overturned (its label written upside down), and the parasol is almost out of frame. Subsequent juxtapositions up the ante with increasingly beguiling transmogrifications. A family spread features, on the left side, a boy, his father, and pregnant mother. On the right, "after the baby," a screaming baby sister is surrounded by a vast array of infant paraphernalia, and the older child appears perplexed. A bedroom spread includes a monster and a mosquito on the left; on the right the monster is revealed to be a couple of coats on a rack, and the narrator, covered in welts, has become a monster (the mosquito is nowhere to be seen). While board covers, sturdy pages, and the picture-dictionary format may suggest early learning, do not be fooled: this conceptual compendium aims squarely at the elementary set with provocative delight. thom barthelmess